loading page

Identifying the magnetospheric drivers of giant undulations: Global modeling of the evolving inner magnetosphere and its auroral manifestations
  • +8
  • Kareem Sorathia,
  • Mykhaylo Shumko,
  • Anthony Sciola,
  • Adam Michael,
  • Viacheslav G. Merkin,
  • Bea Gallardo-Lacourt,
  • Michael G. Henderson,
  • Dong Lin,
  • Shanshan Bao,
  • Jeffrey Garretson,
  • Aleksandr Ukhorskiy
Kareem Sorathia
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

Author Profile
Mykhaylo Shumko
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Author Profile
Anthony Sciola
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Author Profile
Adam Michael
The John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
Author Profile
Viacheslav G. Merkin
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Author Profile
Bea Gallardo-Lacourt
NASA GSFC
Author Profile
Michael G. Henderson
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Author Profile
Dong Lin
National Center for Atmospheric Research
Author Profile
Shanshan Bao
Rice University
Author Profile
Jeffrey Garretson
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab
Author Profile
Aleksandr Ukhorskiy
JHU/APL
Author Profile

Abstract

We present the first global geospace simulation to reproduce auroral giant undulations (GUs). To identify their magnetospheric drivers, we employ the MAGE (Multiscale Atmosphere-Geospace Environment) model in a case study of a geomagnetic storm for which there were spacecraft- and ground-based observations of GUs. The model reproduces the spatial and temporal scales of the GUs as well as the presence of duskside subauroral polarization streams (SAPS) and plasmapause undulations. Based on our modeling, we are able to identify the magnetospheric drivers of GUs as mesoscale ring current injections which, after drifting westward, create inverted regions of flux-tube entropy (FTE) and subsequent interchange instability. Outward-protruding interchange fingers disrupt shielding of the inner magnetosphere, creating longitudinally-localized ripples in magnetospheric convection equatorward of the magnetospheric instability, which structure the plasmapause and duskside diffuse precipitation. While not causal, SAPS and plasmapause undulations are a consequence of the unstable magnetospheric configuration.
14 Jun 2024Submitted to ESS Open Archive
14 Jun 2024Published in ESS Open Archive